


"The Mark of Athena - Perhaps it Happened Like This..."

by NeverOddOrEven0



Category: Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-02
Updated: 2012-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-09 01:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/449740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverOddOrEven0/pseuds/NeverOddOrEven0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Join me for a tale filled with twists and turn, danger and desperado, shocks and betrayals along with love, romance and of course humor in my take of "The Mark of Athena"......</p>
<p>The Prologue Teaser : What will happen when the ship lands? That is, if it lands......Find out in this chapter.....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My take on the third installment of the book. ENJOY! Oh! And don't forget to review!

**The Mark of Athena**

Prologue

**Reyna**

Reyna knew she had taken a risk. Oh, and what a big risk it had been. The truth was, no one could have been absolutely sure what the ship would bring. An ally? A foe? She wasn't even sure that Percy was certain. That being said, if Reyna was sure of anything, it was that if something were to go wrong, she would be in some real hot water. After all as Praetor she was responsible for the camp's safety. Yet, even her own potential downfall didn't faze her as much as Octavian's would be accent if things happened to go south. Oh, how she detested that Octavian. He may have looked like every bullies dream come true but she knew he was not your everyday skinny guy that lived down the block. She knew that he was much, much more powerful. After all, this was a guy who gutted stuffed toys in his spare time. Jokes aside though, Reyna knew that Octavian craved nothing more than power. She realised that he was always on the lookout for any opportunity to usurp Reyna and gain control of the camp. More than anything though, she knew that she was granting him a premier opportunity to do just that by allowing this ship to enter the camp. Why did she do it then? She seemed to have enough on her plate already without the added problem of these Greeks. Throw in Octavian and she knew she was brewing a recipe for disaster. Yet, the truth was that there was a possibility that there was something on that ship that Reyna really wanted. Something that had been missing for the past eight months, something that might be able to help her and everyone else make sense of what had been going on. Actually, it was a someone. In fact, his name was Jason....  

 

**Jason**

As he peered over the edge of the ship, Jason felt safe. The familiar landmarks and figures that dotted the rolling landscape below him reminded him of better times; happier memories. The only times when he had truly felt safe were all in one way or another associated with this place. In truth, he couldn't believe his eyes. It had been eight months, eight long months since he had last been here; his true home. He could feel it, this was where he belonged. He felt as if his entire essence; his entire being was being drawn towards what lay below him. The anticipation itself was enough to set his heart pounding and his blood racing. He just could not wrap his mind around it. Sure, the last eight months hadn't exactly been the worst of his life, after all he had avoided becoming dinner to a various assortment of monsters and made some awesome new friends while he was it, but he was never really at ease during that time. He was always on edge, as if he were trespassing on private property. There was just no way around it, he was Roman. Every cell in his body could attest to that fact. Everything about the two was different, their combat tactics, fighting styles; the way they spoke, the way they acted. They were like two sides of the same coin. They couldn't have been more different yet were fundamentally one and the same.

 

Jason though, of all people, couldn't afford to think like that. He knew that in order to defeat Gaea the Romans and the Greeks needed to set aside their differences and work together. Yet there was still something that bothered Jason; just this lingering feeling at the pit of his stomach that didn't quite seem right. Something just didn't add up, something wasn't clicking into place. Now if only he knew what... "Hey Jason! You alright?" yelled Leo, with a concerned look on his face. Jason had been so lost in thought that he hadn't realised that he had started to lean dangerously close to the edge of the ship. Startled, he tripped over himself and would have fallen overboard if Leo hadn't grabbed his arm and steadied him. "Dude! I'm not gonna be around to save your life forever. You gotta be more careful man, I know you can fly and all but there's no need to be showing off all the time," chided Leo. "Hmph," Jason just smirked and nodded his head as he tried to conceal a smile. " By the way Superman, we gonna be landing soon so you better be ready," Leo remarked as he headed back into the control room of the ship. Jason just sighed wistfully and continued to gaze at what lay below him, trying not to get too caught up in his thoughts.

 

**Percy**

Percy had never seen anything more majestic. The Argo 2 was unlike anything he could have even imagined. Watching it as it approached the camp was like watching a movie in slow-motion. It was both captivating yet oddly disturbing; after all the ship was defying gravity in more ways than one. Firstly there was no way in olympus that something that huge or heavy should have been able to fly. The beast was big enough to have put the titanic to shame. Second, it was going much faster than anything its size should have been able to go, but then again, flying ships were not an everyday occurrence. Finally though, and strangest of all, it didn't seem to be slowing down at all, odd considering it was already on the outskirts of the city and would soon reach the forum. "Bah! I'm just being paranoid," thought Percy to himself. After all, that Leo guy probably knew a lot more about the ship's capabilities than he did. On that note, Percy just couldn't wait to meet Leo, he seemed quite the character. Of course, he was just aching to see all his friends again, especially Annabeth.

 

Oh, that Annabeth, just the thought of her filled him with warmth. Yet, there was someone else Percy was really keen on meeting; the ever-mysterious Jason. As best he could figure, he was something of a god around these parts. Everyone held him in high regard, even Reyna, which was really saying something about the guy. Percy was distracted from his thoughts by some rather loud mummers from the campers around him. As he looked up he noticed quite a few of them pointing at the ship and gesturing with concern on their faces. Percy directed his attention back on the ship and didn't notice anything out of place. "Great, now the whole camp is paranoid!" he joked to himself.

 

He was about to dismiss the weird reactions as nothing more than the shock of seeing a flying ship, when he heard a someone yell, "By gods, it's smoking!" As he looked around to find the source of the commotion, Percy saw one of the legionnaires waving frantically at the ship. Immediately, he turned his gaze back on the Argo 2. He could just make out a trail jet black smoke rising out of the ship's hull. It didn't take much time for Percy to put two and two together. The smoke; the fact that the ship wasn't slowing down; something was seriously wrong. Perhaps the engine had blown, decided Percy, rather calmly. Then the facts hit him in the face. If it was a damaged engine, the ship would surely crash. Looking up again, Percy was taken aback. The ship looked a lot worse, it was now nearly a blur through the increasing cloud of smoke. Percy could barely make out the figure of the ship that now seemed to be pointing downwards. In fact, it seemed to be headed right at him and everybody else. Just then, the screaming began. People began to realise that if they didn't move they would end up flattened by this monstrous entity. Then, all hell broke loose....


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Join me for a tale filled with twists and turn, danger and desperado, shocks and betrayals along with love, romance and of course humor in my take of "The Mark of Athena"... 
> 
> Chapter 1 Teaser : The Ship's in trouble...BIG trouble... Can anyone save it? Introducing Leo, everyone's favorite comedian...

**The Mark of Athena**

Chapter 1

**Leo**

Leo had been having a great day. He had gotten to sleep in, the tacos that he had eaten for lunch had been supremely awesome and he could have sworn that the cute chick from the Apollo cabin had been totally checking him out. In truth, Leo had never felt better in his life. The past six months had been the best of his life since his mother's death. Everyone at camp Half-Blood had made him feel so welcome. In fact, he hadn't even been bullied by the Ares cabin. For once in his life, Leo really felt as if he belonged, and it showed too. He had finally been able to come out of his shell over the past few months. His confidence had improved, he had become calmer and in short just...more of himself. He no longer felt it necessary to hide behind the false veil that he had created in the past. He was with people that really liked him for who he was now, and that was all that mattered.

Leo figured that the big turnaround was partly due his quest. After all, kicking Giant butt with Jason and Piper would have done wonders to anyone's self-belief. Plus, the last few months had been chalk full campers going "Leo how can I help you?", "Leo, did I fix that on right?" and "Leo you're so cute" that he had almost began to regret spearheading the Argo 2's construction. Okay, perhaps there weren't any adoring girls. He was still having a bit of trouble in that department. At least Jason and Piper were hitting it off though. As far as everyone at Camp were concerned they were officially a couple, although Leo sometimes thought that Jason was a bit reserved. Maybe he was holding back something from his past...

Anyways, for one reason or another, Leo had changed for the better. Yup, Leo was now the man. He was the CAPTAIN, literally. He and his ship, the Argo 2 had now been sailing for the better part of a week. On board were about thirty to forty demigods, all of whom had volunteered to come along. None of them had any clue as to what the condition of the Roman Camp was in. For all they knew, the camp could have been destroyed by now. Or perhaps, they had already defeated the Giant's army and were sipping lemonade in the sunshine, although Leo seriously doubted that that had occurred. More likely, the Romans were still fighting their enemies and Leo was pretty sure that they would need some help. Just the thought of a battle though, sent a shiver down Leo's spine. Yet, Leo knew that he had a secret weapon that could potentially turn the tide in his ally's favor.

Unsurprisingly, The Argo 2 definitely qualified under secret weapon category. Armed to the teeth with Olympus grade weaponry, it was a mean, not so lean, fighting machine. It probably could have given Ares' war chariot a run for its money, if there was an award for the number of different ways in which it could kill you. Even defensively, it was a mammoth; its heavily armored hull were fire proof, acid proof and virtually monster proof. At least, that's what Leo liked to believe, the Argo 2 hadn't actually been battle tested though. That being said, Leo believed that he had really outdone himself this time. As far as he was concerned, the Argo 2 was a real diamond in the rough. "Just like me," thought Leo to himself, smirking.

Surprisingly enough it had been smooth sailing all the way from Long Island. No monsters, no giants, no Gaea, no nothing; Best Leo could figure, either the Gods were looking out for them or they had been supremely lucky. He was banking on the latter, after all, he had garnered enough information to know that Zeus wasn't exactly in demigod helping mood. Yet Leo should have known better. His luck had never lasted this long before and rather unsettlingly, it wasn't to last much longer. Nope, Leo just wasn't fated to be lucky. Something always went wrong and this time was no exception. Only this time it would go very, very wrong.


	3. Chapter 2 - "Crashdown"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can Leo Save The Ship?

My take on the Mark of Athena. Enjoy! Oh! And Don't forget to review...

The Mark of Athena

Chapter 2

Leo

As Leo glanced down at his control panel, his initial reaction was one of surprise. However, this soon turned to confusion. The readings he was getting just weren't adding up. His altitude meter was dropping at an alarming rate while his pressure indicator was doing much the same. "Hmm, that's odd," thought Leo, silently trying to figure out the cause. "If those readings are accurate then it would seem that we're falling," concluded Leo. Now the problem about being on a ship, is that you cannot possibly judge if you are in motion without looking out at your surroundings. Leo also faced this problem, which was why he had no idea that his ship was falling until he had taken a look at his reading instruments. Unfortunately, Leo still had two major problems facing him; what exactly was causing the problem and how exactly was he going to stop it. While pondering this mind bender-of sorts Leo decided to switch on the stabilizers he had built into the ship. At least they would control the falling of the ship till Leo could figure out how to deal with this situation. They were still on the outskirts of the Roman camp and if Leo really needed to, he quite possibly could make an emergency landing.

After a few seconds of a little analysing and a lot of guesswork, the truth dawned on him. "Of course! There must be something wrong with the engine!" exclaimed Leo, as he slapped his forehead in disbelief. Yet, for the second time that day Leo was thrown into a state of confusion. There just couldn't possibly be anything wrong with the engine. It was a Hephaestus 750X, the latest, greatest thing on the Olympus market. It had been a gift from his father himself. Something of that quality just didn't fail, unless some higher power was intentionally messing with them. Or, his father had given him a faulty product; which Leo didn't put past him. Either way, Leo decided he had better page Darius, his half-brother, who was stationed in the engine room. He hurried over to his control panel and pushed a large unassuming button labeled "CONFERENCE" and selected the appropriate room.

"Darius, you in there?" yelled Leo, a little too loud. He heard some clattering and crashing as a deep voice came over on the other side, "Uhh, Yeah Leo. I'm here". Darius was relatively new, he had only came to camp a few months ago. He was a nice guy, but Leo thought he was rather clumsy for a child of Hephaestus. "Darius, can you check the engine, I'm gettin' some weird readings down here". "Yeah... About that Leo, the engine has kinda been sputtering for the past couple of minutes," replied Darius rather afraid. "What! And you didn't bother telling me?" yelled Leo, although he wasn't really angry. "Sorry Leo, at first I didn't think it was a big deal but right now... It's looking real bad. I think it may be dying," responded Darius. "It's alright, just power up the back-up engine.". "Alright man," said Darius before Leo heard more crashing sounds. Leo winced but inside he was relieved. He had to admit, the Athena cabin had the right idea when they made him ensure he had replacements for nearly everything on the ship. He made a mental note to thank Annabeth for being a potential lifesaver the next time he saw her.

As he did this, Darius came back on line, "Uhh, Leo. Bad news, man. The engine isn't starting," said Darius, tense this time. "What! Are you sure," yelled Leo, surprised. "Yeah man, I'm sure. I just tried it again; it isn't starting up.". It was like someone had dropped a bombshell at Leo's party. Now, things really weren't adding up. Leo had designed that back-up himself. Sure, it wasn't Olympus grade engineering, but it sure was Leo grade. And if Leo was sure of anything, Leo grade was at the very least, reliable. He sighed to himself as he realised he may have to make an emergency landing. He decided to give it one last try though and go down to the engine to take a look. Perhaps some coaxing from the man himself would do the trick. He doubted it, but he of all people knew that anything was possible. However, as he turned towards the door to leave, he saw something more shocking than anything he had witnessed that day. Nothing could have ever prepared him for the following few minutes of his life. In fact, what he saw made him feel like he had been turned upside down, spun around put on a roller coaster.

What Leo had seen was a glimpse out of the ship. The glimpse was one of pure senselessness. He saw the sky, the clouds and everything else race past him and the ship at startling speed. He saw the ship pointed towards the ground at an angle as if it were a sled sliding down a snowy hillside. At first he thought that maybe those tacos he had had for lunch may have been made in the 1960's. He just didn't understand, he definitely had switched on the stabilizers. He had even checked to ensure. Wouldn't it just have been his luck though, if they had failed too. However, it was the speed that really got to Leo. The ship just should not have been able to move that fast, even in free fall. It was as if someone had grabbed the ship and thrown it towards the ground as hard as possible. His mind was a blur of thoughts; he had thousands of questions racing through it. He knew that he just had to deal with them later though. After all, he had bigger problems to deal with right now. Much bigger problems. In fact, the ship was hurtling towards the ground, headed right for the Roman Camp. He roughly estimated that he had about thirty seconds to save it. Yup, Leo had thirty seconds to stop a ship with no engine that was going at an intangible speed from crashing a demigod camp and possibly killing him and his friends. He was almost resigned to tell himself, "Yeah right, good luck with that!" but he knew better, he knew he had to try.

Leo ran through the blueprint of the ship, which by now was virtually imprinted on the inside of his head. He tried desperately to find anything that would help him out but time was definitely not on his side. It just kept ticking and ticking; ticking towards his doom. Twenty five seconds, twenty seconds; he started hearing screams from within the ship. The campers had probably started to realise that they were crashing. Still, Leo forced himself to concentrate. The fate of hundreds were in his hand. If only this were a real ship and he could just throw in an anchor and stop it, then again, real ships wouldn't be crash landing. That was it! Leo had just gotten a brainwave; an idea that just might save them all. When had built this ship he had a vague idea that it should mirror the original Argo to an extent. He also realised the necessity for an anchor like object, in case they ever needed to hook themselves to a tower or maybe a floating palace, like the one they had visited on his quest. Which is why, Leo had put in grappling hooks. Yup, brilliant Leo had installed grappling hooks. And now, it might just save them.

He didn't have much time but even so a plan formulated in his mind. If he could fire a few grappling hooks and hook them to stable objects, they might be able to suspend themselves midair. The only thing that Leo could compare it to was a bungee jumper. Instead of hooking a bungee jumper to a single tower, if you hooked him to multiple towers and then substituted him for a flying ship...you would get a pretty good picture of what Leo was trying to do. Sure, it was a longshot but he didn't have much of a choice. Leo was wildly aware of the minimal time he had left, but he still needed to find suitable targets. As he scanned the area he spotted a high siege tower. It wouldn't have been his first choice, but then again, captaining a free-falling flying ship wouldn't have been his first choice either.

As he found a nook in the tower to aim the grappling hook for, Leo offered up a quick prayer to his father as well as any other God that he could think of off the top of his head. He needed to get this first hook perfect, if not, it would be "good bye Leo," followed shortly by "welcome to the underworld.". He fired the first hook as he smirked at the thought. It was like his life had started moving in "slow-mo". He could sense the time ebbing away as the hook traveled towards the spot in the grating that Leo had aimed for. He next feeling was pure joy as he saw, no felt, the hook connect. Upon contact, the ship lurched backwards violently, like a horse that had been reined in. Leo heard more screams, louder and more urgent than before. In the back of his head he wondered why nobody had come to check on him. "Probably too busy worrying about their own demise!" thought Leo, glad his inane sense of humor hadn't deserted him in this most vulnerable state.

Some other part in back of his mind, not the part responsible for his comic quality, was anticipating the time till touchdown. Perhaps in this case however, crashdown may have been the more appropriate term. In truth, he couldn't have had more than ten seconds till contact; give or take a few seconds. Although, a few extra seconds could save his life, or kill him. Even as he was preparing to fire the next grappling hook, he felt the ship tipping backwards due to its imbalance. He needed at least one more hook to ensure that the ship wouldn't tip over. He had already analyzed the viable options and found that his best bet was a building that looked like a giant indoor playpark. Leo could only wonder what it was used for. He programmed the grappling hook canon to fire at his target and was about pull the trigger when he felt an odd sensation down his spine. He shrugged it off and fired anyway. Surprisingly, what should have seemed like ages went past in a whir. Almost as if the grappling hook had been helped along. Either way, the hook hit the sweet spot and hung on. Immediately, the ship righted itself with yet another violent lurch, causing an unsuspecting Leo to stumble forward and hit his head flat on the edge of a table. He hoped that he had done enough but even if he hadn't, he couldn't do much more. He had managed to knock himself out cold. Yet there was enough time for a voice to speak in his head, "Good job young demigod. You have saved your friends. You have made me proud. Soon you will have united the two camps. You can rest now young demigod, but soon you will be tested again. And when that happens you must remain strong...". And with that, Leo blacked out

Hope you guys liked the chapter! Next Chapter we have the Percy-Annabeth Reunion! Don't miss it and like always any good, bad and even ugly comments are more than welcome...

**Author's Note:**

> All your thoughts in terms of reviews are appreciated! Tune in next chapter to find out what happens to the Argo II....


End file.
